Cher Lloyd shot to fame when she appeared on The X Factor in 2010. Although she gained many admirers on the show, she also became the victim of abuse on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. This has caused her to campaign against web bullying.
Speaking to The Sun about her tough time, she said: "It's a miracle I'm still alive — I've been driven to hell and back. The worst thing I've suffered was when I received a death threat against my mum. It was her birthday and she was destroyed. She was a total wreck. I was so angry — say what you want about me, but don't upset her.
“I think these people need help. To do that to someone, there's got to be something wrong with you. It sounds strange but I feel sorry for them. Maybe they've got a troublesome life, to feel the need to pick into other people's.”
She continued: “I remember the first time there were a couple of really bad comments. People might think, 'Oh, just get over it — they're only talking about your face or your eyebrows or your teeth'. But they picked up on everything I was insecure about. People started picking on me and hammering into me.
"They were saying, 'You're not pretty,' 'You're really ugly'' 'Why are you doing it?'. That's when it started to really to hurt. Right from the very start. I decided to delete my Facebook account. It drove me insane.
"Those messages ruined everything else — all the good uses of Facebook to connect with your friends and so on. It really frustrates me when people say, 'Just ignore it'. How am I meant to ignore it? I'm a teenage girl.
"I'm going to be drawn to that comment more than I am to one saying I'm beautiful or a great singer. Just like every other teenage girl would be. I put on a complete guard in front of me after that.
"I didn't want to talk to anyone, I wanted people to leave me alone. I put on this hard person. And it meant I came across so badly. I'm gutted about it. But I didn't know how to express the way I was feeling in the right way."
Cher has contributed to a BBC1 Panorama programme called Hunting The Online Bullies, which will be aired on Monday night at 8:30pm.
Cher Lloyd, Mollie King, One Direction & More Light Up Radio 1 Teen Awards...
Entertainment News